Interview: Theatre Life with Susan Jaffe

Today’s subject Susan Jaffe is currently living her theatre and dance lives as the Artistic Director of One the country’ finest dance companies American Ballet Theatre (ABT). She assumed the post in December of 2022. ABT is coming to town this week for a weeklong engagement of the Christopher Wheeldon choreographed The Winter’s Tale. The show performs in the Opera House at Kennedy Center from February 11th through 15th.

Before becoming ABT’S Artistic Director, she was a Principal Dancer with the company for 22 years. Her association with ABT goes back further than that though. Read on to see how.

She has performed on the international stage with the Royal Ballet, the Kirov Ballet, the Stuttgart Ballet, La Scala Ballet, Vienna State Opera Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, and the English National Ballet. Her versatility as a dancer brought acclaimed interpretations to ballet classics, such as Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, and dramatic works by Agnes De Mille, Antony Tudor, John Cranko, Ronald Hynd, and Kenneth MacMillan. She also worked with many prominent contemporary choreographers of her time, such as Twyla Tharp, Jerome Robbins, Merce Cunningham, Nacho Duato, Mark Morris, Ulysses Dove, and Jiří Kylián.

After retiring from the stage in 2002, Jaffe taught in the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School and served as an advisor to the chairman of the board of ABT until 2007. In 2010 she became a Director of Repertoire at ABT. Two years later, she was appointed Dean of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) in Winston-Salem, NC, a position she held for eight years. During her tenure at UNCSA, Jaffe and her faculty implemented a syllabus based on the ABT National Training Curriculum and established the Choreographic Institute of UNCSA. Additionally, she raised $3.5 million in endowed scholarships and other scholarships.

American Ballet Theatre has been delighting audiences since 1939. Their roster of past Artistic Directors include Mikhail Baryshnikov, Lucia Chase, and legendary Broadway Scenic Designer Oliver Smith. Susan Jaffe is continuing ABT’s tradition of bringing great stories to the stage through dance while advancing the company forward. That’s a very delicate balance that some Artistic Directors never get.

Please make it ONLY about the art and attend a performance of ABT’s The Winter’s Tale at Kennedy Center this week. The choreography is by the gentleman who gave us Broadway’s An American in Paris and MJ The Musical so all you musical theatre geeks out there have a big reason to attend as well as all lovers of dance.

Susan Jaffe is truly living her theatre and dance lives to the fullest.

As a child, what was it about ballet that made it so appealing that you chose it over any of the other forms of dance?
Ballet spoke to me very early because it combined discipline, beauty, and imagination. I loved the structure, the clarity of positions, the musicality but I was equally drawn to the way ballet could tell stories and express emotion without words. There was something transformative about it: the idea that through focus and intention, you could transcend everyday life and become something larger than yourself onstage.

Where did you receive your training?
I began my training at the Maryland School of Ballet in my hometown of Bethesda, Maryland, until I was 16. The rest of my formative training came through American Ballet Theatre, first as a summer scholarship student, then as a member of ABT II (then called the Ballet Repertory Company) from ages 16 to 18, and ultimately as a member of the main company. That progression shaped my artistic development in a very organic, immersive way.

What was your first professional job as a dancer?
My first professional job was with American Ballet Theatre’s Second Company, which I joined at 16. From there, I moved into the main company, making ABT not only my first professional home but also the place where I grew up as an artist.

How did you first come to ABT and how did you make the decision to join them?
ABT felt like a natural fit from the beginning. The company’s full-length classical and dramatic ballets, as well as the one-act classical and contemporary works, offered a kind of artistic expansiveness that deeply appealed to me. Storytelling is one of the most primal things we do, and I wanted to be a part of that tradition. 

Some Artistic Directors come into a job and make their own mark on things but forget about who came before them. How do you as ABT’s current Artistic Director find the balance between moving the company forward while still honoring your predecessors?
ABT has an extraordinarily rich history, and I feel a deep responsibility to steward that legacy with respect. Honoring the past doesn’t mean preserving it unchanged, it means understanding the values that shaped the company and allowing them to evolve. My goal is to uphold ABT’s tradition of versatility and classical excellence while commissioning new work, revisiting the classics with fresh eyes, and creating space for today’s dancers to fully inhabit the repertory. Progress and tradition are not in opposition; they deepen and strengthen one another.

Can you please tell us a little something about Christopher Wheeldon’s staging of The Winter’s Tale?
Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale is an emotionally resonant work. His choreography captures both the intimacy of personal relationships and the grandeur of transformation. What makes this work especially powerful is how seamlessly movement, music, and design come together to explore themes of loss, forgiveness, and renewal. It is a very emotional ballet and a highly creative work. 

When ABT tours, have there been cases where you’ve had to modify the staging or scenery because of stage size?
Yes, touring requires a great deal of adaptability. Every theater presents different spatial and technical considerations, and adjustments may be necessary to ensure both the dancers' safety and the integrity of the choreography. 

Are there any roles as a dancer that you really wanted to perform that you didn’t have the opportunity to do?
There are always roles that live in a dancer’s imagination, but I don’t dwell on what didn’t happen. My role now is to support today’s artists. Every role I performed contributed to my artistic growth and shaped who I am today. As Artistic Director, I now have the privilege of engaging with those dream roles through the dancers I guide and mentor.

What are you most looking forward to for ABT in 2026?
I’m looking forward to continuing to build momentum, strengthening the dancers, deepening the repertory, and finding new ways to connect meaningfully with audiences. 2026 represents a moment of forward energy for ABT: honoring our history while embracing innovation, ambition, and a renewed sense of possibility for what ballet can be.

Special thanks to Kennedy Center's Director of Public Relations for Non- Classical Programming PJ Elliott and American Ballet Theatre's Senior Director of Communications and Media Affairs Laura Miller for their assistance in coordinating this interview.